


somebody said i'm a fucking slum

by kellsoda



Category: Original Work
Genre: Kannitha Chantrea and Chandra are young adults, Pre-Kilbisam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 18:33:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20475632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellsoda/pseuds/kellsoda
Summary: Khang is widely accepted as the leader of the Sokhdomese rebellion. However, the one who struck the first match and set the first rebellious fires was Kannitha, an untouchable, with the help of her sister Chantrea and her friend Chandra.





	somebody said i'm a fucking slum

**Author's Note:**

> so i wrote this completely on impulse because i love my girl kannitha and i love writing these three together. enjoy!!

“Girls, Chandra’s here!” Kiem said, her head poking through the room’s entrance.

Both sisters looked up from their papers.

“Tell her she can come in!” Chantrea replied, waving her tail happily.

Kannitha smiled. She couldn’t help but feel a little giddy every time her mother referred to them as ‘girls’. Being validated felt  _ nice. _

The huge shape of their friend came into the room, looking grumpy as ever. She nodded to them as she sat down. 

“Hey. What are you reading?”

“Invites,” Chantrea said with an edge to her voice. “To tomorrow’s parade. Are you invited?”

Chandra huffed and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, unfortunately I am.”

“Are you going?”

“Absolutely not. I have better things to do than watch these stuck-up assholes show how privileged they are.”

Chantrea grimaced, then nodded in agreement. Parades were pretty common. They often celebrated an event in any high-ranked kshatriya’s life, whether it be a promotion or a new heir’s birth. But they were only really to flaunt these cats’ ego. Parading in front of hundreds of untouchables, sudras and vaishyas sure was an excellent way to make you feel better about yourself. Invites were sent to cats at random, and their presence was mandatory. Only cats like Chandra, who could easily beat up whoever was sent to punish them, could let themselves skip that chore. Because not only was it infinitely boring, it was also humiliating, for every cat who wasn’t parading had to hold their head down, to show respect or whatever.

Nobody liked parades.

“Well, I’m about to change your mind!” Kannitha exclaimed, looking up from her paper with a grin.

Her sister immediately groaned.

“Please  _ don’t _ ,” she pleaded. “It’s a  _ terrible  _ idea.”

“Except it’s not,” the pale blue cat countered. “Because I’m a genius.”

“The same genius who fell in the river because she said she could walk on that wire?”

“That was  _ different _ ! I did that to mess with you. This one is actually a good idea.”

Kannitha looked at her friend, giving her a pleading look, but the cream-coloured cat only returned a deadpan stare. Well, she  _ was _ a little curious. Sure, sometimes her ideas were stupid as ever, but she was often the one to scheme the tricks they set up to prank young and dumb kshatriyas who wandered in the city alone. And she had to admit they were pretty clever.  _ I mean...The one where we pretended to see the future in his collar was smart. Who knew someone could be that gullible. _

She sighed.

“Let’s hear it.”

Kannitha’s face lit up and she gave her sister a victorious smile. Chantrea only sighed loudly.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Oh, I won’t! Instead, I’ll say ‘ _ Hey you warned me a thousand and a half times, but look! It worked and I’m a genius! _ ’ and you’ll say ‘ _ You were completely right, Kannitha, my dearest and smartest sister, you  _ are _ a genius!’ _ ”

The purple and blue cat snorted in disbelief. The other cat gave her invite a tap.

“Okay, here’s the thing. This one is to celebrate someone named Tam’s promotion. Do you know them, Chandra?”

The massive cat huffed.

“Yeah. She’s a general. She sucks. Big fucking brute like me.”

“You’re not a brute,” Chantrea meowed, then smiled, “you’re a huge softie and you know it!”

Chandra growled.

“Say that again and I’ll come for your knees.”

“Ladies, ladies! Let’s not fight about the fact that Chandra absolutely is a softie right now. Save it for later,” Kannitha interrupted, earning a glare from her friend. “So. She’s probably going to take her whole family with her. I heard she has like, two sons, one of which sucks at fighting. The other one is apparently promising. She has, what, maybe two other relatives? And they’re old and retired.”

“When you say  _ whole family _ it sounds like she has a huge one,” Chantrea commented. “Kind of anticlimatic.”

“It was the point! So here’s where my idea comes in.”

Kannitha dug a few lines into the ground with a claw: two parallel ones, with a lot of dots along them and an arrow in the middle. 

“We’re all invited to this. We know how to put up a decent fight. I say we try and kick their ass.”

Chandra couldn’t help but bark a laugh.

“Okay, yes, Chantrea is right, that’s a shit idea.” (“Told you,” the other cat meowed) “Do you know how easily we’d get beaten up? If Tam has a promotion, that means she’s a  _ marshall  _ now. Marshalls know how to fucking fight.”

“We’re not marshalls, but come on! We have  _ you  _ on our side!” The pale blue cat defended. “And Chantrea and I are the best at dodging attacks. So we can just, I don’t know,” she waved her paws in the air, “run around them and distract them until they give up and run back home! And we’re also kind of good at fighting too, so if we have to give them a bunch of scratches, we’re good!”

“You’re so optimistic about this it  _ hurts, _ ” Chantrea complained as she rubbed her face.

“Kannitha,” Chandra growled. “This is Tam we’re talking about. My family are bound to be there. We don’t stand a single fucking chance against them.”

She pointed at her face to emphasize her point. Two huge scars barred her left cheek, and her right ear was torn to shreds. She barely even had anything from that ear left. She had told Kannitha how she got them a little while ago: it had been the day she had screamed at their family, and then had come out, only to be promptly beaten up and kicked out by her father. The latter had humiliated her in front of her brothers, who had also sneered and spat at her. Although she  _ had _ left a few distinct wounds on his body, he had left her with those scars and the following words: ‘ _ Even if someone is dumb enough to think you’re female, these will make you so ugly no one will ever want you.’ _ Which was stupid, Kannitha thought, because there was no way Chandra could ever be ugly, because she was stunning. She had told her these exact words and her friend had rolled her eyes, then grumbled a ‘ _ Fuck you _ ’. She was bad at taking compliments.

The point was, not only was her father strong, but so were her brothers, and her cousins, and her uncles. Her family were  _ huge _ and they were all city guards, specializing in escorting kshatriyas. They were present at almost every parade there was. It prevented any rowdy cats from getting big ideas about attacking the parading cats. I mean, who wants to fight a whole family of massive, battle-trained siberian cats?

“Here’s the thing though,” Kannitha meowed. “I know a few cats who would seize any chance to kick some kshatriya ass. They don’t want to do it though, because well, yeah, it’s difficult to take that step. But if we do it, maybe they’ll help us! Who knows!”

“You have too much faith in those cats,” the siberian cat sighed. “Most of them are all bark and no bite.”

She went silent for a moment, which Chantrea used to slide her sister a ‘ _ told you so _ ’ look, to which she replied with a playful swipe and protesting, saying she hadn’t even said yes or no yet. The purple and blue cat only laughed and rolled her eyes.

Then Chandra looked up.

“Fine. Okay. Let’s try it.”

Kannitha let out a victorious squeal and her sister looked perfectly dumbfounded, her jaw hanging open in surprise.

“Wait, really?” she asked. “You  _ actually _ want to try and do it? Are you feeling alright?”

“I think I can hold Tam for a solid minute,” she replied. “That’ll give you enough time to run off if things turn sour.”

“But you said your family are going to be there,” Chantrea continued, worry glinting in her gaze.

“I mean, probably,” she conceded. “But there’s also a chance Tam’s too proud to ask for their help. She ditched them a couple of times.”

“Why didn’t you say so  _ earlier? _ ”

“Because she was worried about us,” Kannitha meowed, leaning towards her sister’s ear. She smirked. “Because she’s a  _ softie. _ ”

Chandra immediately tried to swipe at her, but the pale blue cat was  _ fast.  _ She dodged and shot forward towards her belly and a second later she had knocked her friend off her paws. She stood with a triumphant smile, her tail twitching excitedly.

“See? You didn’t even see me coming! We can  _ totally _ do this.”

The siberian cat grunted as she sat back up. 

“Okay, yes, that was good. You’re not getting off that easily next time.”

“So you’re in?”

She nodded. “I am.”

Kannitha turned to her sister, giving her a smug look through half-lidded eyes. 

“There’s no way I can convince you now, is there?” Chantrea said.

“Nope!”

“No.”

She groaned, her ears flopping down comically. “Fine then. Let’s do this.”

A loud noise echoed from the far end of the street, where the Royal Palace was. Every parade started from the Palace. It then crossed the biggest street in Sunkang, which led to the city’s main exit. The kshatriyas then headed for the strip of land that belonged to the Sunkang province, right before the borders with Khuam and Sogan. They’d usually feast there, before heading back with another parade.

_ It’s really too hard for them to flex once and then go back home like normal people, _ Kannitha muttered inwardly.

At her side, her mother squirmed uncomfortably. When the three of them had told her about the plan, her eyes had gone so wide she thought they’d pop out of her skull. Of course, she had fiercely disagreed with the idea, rightfully terrified at the idea of her daughters (yes, she even considered Chandra as one of her daughters) getting killed by the kshatriyas. It had almost happened on the day the two sisters had met the siberian cat, and she sure did not want that happening again. But Kannitha was so incredibly stubborn sometimes, so eventually she had dropped it. Kiem still disapproved of what they were doing, and she made it known, but she still said she’d help them out if necessary. After all, she  _ had  _ been quite the troublemaker before her daughters’ birth, so she knew how to fight. 

However, the consequences of that troublemaking had been terrible. 

Kannitha felt the fur on her neck rise.

_ Oh if  _ he’s _ here, I’m going for him first. _

A soft tail landed on her shoulders. Chantrea gave her a soft smile.

“He’s probably  _ not  _ going to be here,” she said. Her sister had always been good at guessing what she was thinking, and it was almost scary. “He’d only be out there if he had an apprentice. Besides, I think he knows who gets invited, and he sure wouldn’t want to be seen anywhere next to us. Or you in particular.”

Kannitha let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Yeah. She hated being compared to him, but she did look a lot like their father. 

She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about that. The pale cat gave her sister a thankful look and smile.

She caught sight of movement in the line of assembled cats. They started bowing their heads, and some of them closed their eyes. That was the most discreet way to protest, but, in Kannitha’s words,  _ that doesn’t do shit. No one sees that. _

However, something else would stick out. Something bolder than just closed eyes. Something the kshatriyas would absolutely not miss.

Kannitha was the only one to hold her head high.

Several cats in front of her noticed this, and gave her alarmed glances. Hushed whispers rose, all laced with concern, and she picked up some ‘ _ is she completely out of her mind?? _ ’’s here and there. A defiant smirk appeared on her face. This was going to be great. She glanced sideways at Chandra, who was sitting next to Chantrea, and she nodded at her. 

A thundering noise sounded, and the earth seemed to shake a little under their paws. That was when a dark brown and white cat appeared at the head of the parade. 

“Chandra says that’s Tam,” Chantrea whispered.

Tam was huge. She was taller than Chandra, with huge paws and two scars barring her face, one on her right cheek, the other across her left eye. She held her chin high, frowning and throwing haughty looks at everyone around her. Behind her were her two sons, one with brown and white fur who was already full-grown and the other who barely seemed old enough to be allowed out there. The pale cat made a mental note to remember them. Who knows, maybe she’d see one of them in the streets one day.  _ I’d be especially delighted to steal  _ that, she thought as she saw the orange necklace around the brown one’s thick neck fur.

“ _ Bow. _ ”

Kannitha was so busy cooking up a plan for the possible future theft of that necklace that she didn’t notice Tam had stopped right in front of her. She was glaring daggers at her, green eyes blazing. She could  _ feel _ the fury radiating from her. Beside the untouchable, her mother had tensed and her sister’s fur had risen ever so slightly. Kannitha held the brown and white cat’s gaze, then smiled wider.

“Nope.”

A loud hiss came through the newly-made marshall’s teeth. In a split second, she had tripled in size and she looked like she might jump for the untouchable’s throat. But she couldn’t really do that, could she? There were way too many eyes on them. If this had been any dark street in the slums, she wouldn’t have hesitated at all, and Kannitha would already be a dead lump of fur. After all, killing cats was still illegal, and especially if it was in plain sight.

A shocked murmur rose among the gathered cats. Some were as concerned and terrified as earlier, but admiration was spreading. 

_ Wow, she’s  _ brave.

_ She has some guts! _

_ I want to be her! _

_ Show her who’s boss, Kannitha! _

_ Bite her nose off! _

_ If she attacks her I’m totally joining in. _

She couldn’t help but smile even more, so much her cheeks started hurting.  _ Yes!  _ she thought to herself.  _ Exactly what I wanted. This is fantastic! _

“I won’t say it again,  _ scum. _ ” Tam growled. “Bow  _ right now. _ Or I’ll make you.”

She snorted, which only make the marshall grow angrier. A light touch on her tail signalled that the next part of the plan was ready to be put in motion.

_ Here we go! _

“Why don’t  _ you _ bow, dirtface?”

Chandra immediately barreled into Tam. The latter let out an outraged yowl, and the street exploded with noise.

In a matter of seconds, the cats who were present had either fled or launched themselves into the fight. 

Kannitha shot forward and avoided a cat who had leapt at her. She spun around and slashed across their face. They let out a yelp and dashed back to the Palace.

_ A city guard. Not Chandra’s family. Perfect! _

The thin cat looked around. She spotted Chandra, who was still face to face with the marshall, then Chantrea who was helping a young sudra in his fight against one of Tam’s relatives. Another cat ran towards her, but she stepped back with a dramatic spin, which made the attacker run straight into a wall.

_ These kshatriyas are so fucking stupid. It’s hilarious. _

She saw her cream-coloured friend staggering backwards, hissing with pain at a new injury. Kannitha darted towards her but was immediately stopped by Tam’s eldest son. She jumped back and well out of his reach. 

And he just did nothing. He stared at her in a battle stance, his orange eyes not betraying any kind of emotion. 

_ Okay, what the fuck are you doing? _

“Why are you doing this?”

Kannitha blinked.  _ He can’t be serious. He can’t be actually asking me why we’re attacking them. Holy shit is he that clueless? _

The worst part of that is that he looked like he was asking a genuine question. He really didn’t understand this.

“Why are we doing this?” she laughed. Her face then morphed into one of cold anger and she hissed. “You say we’re scum, but the only scum I see are the likes of you, you asshole.”

She lunged at him, claws out. His eyes wide, he backed away, almost tripping on his paws. Kannitha bounced and landed on his back. She slashed him, carefully avoiding his thick mane of white fur, and that seemed to kick some sense back into him. The large cat dropped to his paws and rolled to his side, only to be met with a yowl and Chantrea’s sharp claws. 

“I got this!” she yelled. “Go help Chandra!”

Her sister immediately smacked the cat’s face, and Kannitha leapt off of him, skidding to a halt a little distance away.

She heard Tam’s voice, but over the fighting screeches, she couldn’t make out the words. Barely a second later, her siberian friend had materialized at her side.

“She called for my family.” she hissed, her tone urgent. “We need to get out of here,  _ right now _ .”

The thin cat’s eyes widened. Yup, time to leave. She lifted her head and yowled at the top of her lungs.

“Everyone! Retreat!”

That day, Tam had a loud argument with Chandra’s father. Something along the lines of his absence at the parade being unacceptable. Of course, she had shifted part of the blame on him, but she had also spat all night long about that filthy untouchable and her little friends. Her sons had steered clear of her for a long time. And one of them had stayed up pretty late that night. No one knew why.

That day, Kiem had lectured all three of her girls about how reckless and stupid they had been, and how she’d punish them next time they had such an idea. Thankfully, none of them had been severely injured, so that was a relief, and also a major argument in Kannitha’s rebuttal of the lecture. They’d gotten out of there alive while doing something important, and she should be focusing on that!

And also that day, so many cats had stopped by their house. The ones who were mothers scolded them and empathized with Kiem, but all the others were there to thank them and praise them. There were young cats who had been dying to get their claws on a kshatriya, others who had wanted to do something this bold for a while but had never dared, and others who had stars in their eyes as they stared at Kannitha. Sudras and untouchables from everywhere in Sunkang had come by at some point, even those who hadn’t been at the parade. It filled the three friends with a warm feeling, one that came with the satisfaction of having done something right. They had sparked something new in the lower caste cats.

There would probably be repercussions. But who cared?

**Author's Note:**

> oh kannitha. you have no idea whats coming for you


End file.
